Food

Food There are 51 questions in this paper.

PRACTICE PAPER 5A — READING Time allowed: 1 hour
Text 1 Read the reviews from a guide to Kowloon City Restaurants below and then answer questions 1–13.
(20 marks)

Kowloon City – Restaurants

This relatively poor area next to Kai Tak airport and the old Walled City has been home to a variety of excellent
restaurants since the 1960’s.

Sushi Sushi
This is a classic Japanese sushi restaurant. You sit on stools at an oval-shaped bar and watch the two
chefs preparing the dishes. The sushi dishes pass in front of you on a track, and you help yourself. You
can also order dishes off the menu, such as tempura, sashimi and miso soup. The green tea is free.
Perhaps the quality of ingredients is not the very best, but the food is still delicious and costs half the
price of Japanese restaurants in Central.

The Seafood Hot Pot

This restaurant is one of the last remaining hotpot restaurants in the area. Before Kai Tak was closed
down, there were nearly a hundred. Seafood Hotpot has survived because of its reputation for
high-quality ingredients bought locally and because it does not use MSG in its soup. The restaurant
has a faithful clientele of regular customers who treat the place like a second home. A great little
restaurant with a welcoming atmosphere.

Li Ho Fook Chiu Chow Restaurant

Founded in 1954, this was the first Chiu Chow restaurant in Hong Kong. From the outside, the
building looks rather dirty and scruffy. The owner claims that this is deliberate – ‘to preserve the old
look of the Walled City’. Film-makers often use the restaurant as a set. This attracts celebrity guests
and even tourists from Japan and China who have seen the films. The head chef has been cooking
traditional Chiu Chow food here for 30 years, adding new dishes from time to time. Well worth a visit.

Brazilian Beach
Although this little bistro has ‘Brazil’ in its name, the food is actually a delicious combination of
French and Italian cuisines. The restaurant opened at a bad time, in 2000 during the economic recession,
but was successful from the beginning – most of its customers are wealthy people from smarter areas
such as Kowloon Tong and Prince Edward. The chef specialises in sophisticated dishes such as ‘crab
bisque’ which are usually only found in five-star hotels. More expensive than other restaurants in the
area, but very good value.

Wong Wong Chun

Wong Wong Chun opened twenty-five years ago and was the first Thai restaurant in Hong Kong. Now
Thai restaurants are everywhere, including many other little ones in Kowloon City, which is some-
times known as ‘little Bangkok’. This restaurant is known for its authentic Thai cuisine, which also
includes new ideas. Customers can choose from real spicy dishes or a less spicy version more suitable
to Chinese tastes. This is a large up-market Thai restaurant suitable for banquets and big family parties.

Yau Shing
‘Cheap and cheerful’ best describes this little Chiu Chow restaurant. Typical Chiu Chow dishes of rice,
eel and crab are served with enormous quantities of rice, noodles and vegetables. The service is not
very friendly and the seats are uncomfortable. But if you want a large, delicious meal for around $50,
then this is the place to go!

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 Bangkok Garden
This is one of the dozen smaller Thai restaurants that have collected around Wong Wong Chun (see
above). The Bangkok Garden is probably the best of the bunch. The tom yam soup is authentically
spicy and the various salads are delicious, using fresh ingredients. This restaurant is very good value
and is always packed with people. Local Thai families eat here, which is a good sign. But avoid the
desserts – they all taste like they’ve come out of a packet or a tin.

Answer the following questions using information from the Kowloon City restaurant guide. Write
the letter(s) (A – G) next to each question. The first has been done for you as an example. (6 marks)

Which restaurant prepares food to suit Hong Kong tastes? a. E

1. Which restaurant is always busy? 1.

2. Which restaurant has had the same chef for 30 years? 2.
3. Where would you go for a Western meal? 3.
4. Which restaurant is mainly self-service? 4.
5. Which restaurant gets its ingredients from local suppliers? 5.
6. Which two restaurants were the first of their type in Hong Kong? 6. and

Decide whether these statements are True, False or the information is Not Given. Put a tick in ONE box
only for each statement. (5 marks)
True False Not given
7. The majority of Brazilian Beach’s customers are not local.
8. Bangkok Garden is next door to Wong Wong Chun.
9. Sushi Sushi is a relatively expensive Japanese restaurant.
10. You may see a famous person eating at Li Ho Fook.
11. The Seafood Hotpot restaurant was founded in the 1980’s.

12. Which descriptions contain some critical comments about the restaurants or their food? One has
been done for you as an example. (6 marks)

Sushi Sushi Perhaps the quality of ingredients is not the very best

13. Your family is planning a big party in Kowloon City for your uncle’s birthday. Your uncle likes good
quality spicy food.

Based on the information in the guide, which restaurant is the most suitable, and why? (3 marks)

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 Text 2 Read the following article and then answer questions 14 – 32. (21 marks)

In a crowded Mongkok school yard, groups of students sit slumped against the wall,
holding their stomachs and moaning. They’ve had a boxed school lunch provided by a commercial
catering company. Now they’ve got food poisoning. By contrast, in our jails, 12,000 prisoners daily
enjoy basic, balanced healthy meals, designed by professional dieticians (diet experts). It seems
5 a bit strange, says Stephen Ma, an expert in food and catering, that Hong Kong ensures that
prisoners get scientifically designed diets, while we seem unconcerned about the rubbish food our
children eat.

The present system of school lunches varies from school to school. One reason for a
lack of a strong overall policy, teachers say, is that in the past most schools had separate morning
10 and afternoon sessions. In those days, students tended to live closer to their campuses and would
often eat lunch at home. But times have changed, and schools have failed to keep up. Another
complication is that many mothers now work and there is nobody to cook lunch at home, even if a
student lived close enough.

“Nobody is happy with the present school lunch system,” comments Mr. Ma, who himself
15 has two children in primary school. “Parents complain. Students complain. Teachers complain.
Hong Kong parents pay a lot of money for quality education,” argues Mr. Ma. “It seems foolish not
to provide quality diets as well. So let’s get a panel of professional dieticians, caterers and kitchen
designers together, to discuss with teachers and government officials how we can improve school
lunches.”

20 There is a simple solution, Mr Ma argues. What he proposes seems workable, economical

and desirable. It would solve many problems for school administrators, relieve a daily worry of
parents, and eliminate related litter and environmental problems. And, most important of all, it
would guarantee at least one healthy meal a day for 852,296 primary and secondary school pupils.

Mr Ma proposes that schools provide a small space for a kitchen. Dieticians in consultation
25 with the Education and Health Departments could come up with a list of rice and noodle-based
meals. With 40 basic recipes, this would mean different lunches every day of the month, with a
choice of two meals. Mr Ma says part-time workers could easily carry out the preparation and
cooking work, following the approved recipes. It would make environmental sense too. Instead of
children buying styrofoam boxed lunches with disposable wooden chopsticks, meals could be served
30 on hard-wearing re-useable plastic bowls and plates.

All the experts agree that there is plenty of room for improvement. Dietician Liza Wong is
alarmed at obesity in Hong Kong youngsters. It’s staggering, she says, that they have the second
highest levels of cholesterol in the world, after Finland. She claims that many schools add to
the problem because they do not provide lunches, which forces students to buy prepared lunch
35 boxes. These are often unhealthy, fattening and expensive.

Experts are particularly concerned about students from underprivileged backgrounds,

whose home diets can be poor. Under this scheme, all Hong Kong students would be guaranteed
at least one healthy meal five days a week. It would also save money. Students who currently go
out to eat in restaurants or who buy fast food lunches would pay much less under Mr Ma’s plan.
40 And there is an educational benefit. “Many children are poorly informed about the value and quality
of what they eat,” Mr. Ma complains. “Surely it’s an important part of schooling to educate them
about food?”

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 The Education Department has not shown enough leadership in this area. All it has done
is to send a message to all schools instructing them to do their best to provide venues in school
45 where (a) . It advises that if the school has no canteen, then covered playgrounds, the school
hall or some other area (25) . “Schools should try to cultivate ‘good and healthy’ eating habits
among students and encourage them to order balanced lunch boxes,” (26) . All this should be
supervised and monitored by a special committee (27) .

This advice is well-meaning, but inadequate. Wouldn’t it be much easier if the school had
50 the direct responsibility for producing balanced meals, in its own kitchen? It’s very nice to tell
children to finish their vegetables (28) . It’s also near-useless when the attractions of
McDonald’s and other fast food outlets (29) .

14. The main point in paragraph 1 is that ....

A. some Mong Kok students got food poisoning.
B. most students eat boxed lunches.
C. prisoners enjoy their meals.
D. prisoners’ diets are better supervised than most students’ diets. 14.

15. According to paragraph 2, schools do not have the same policy about school lunches. (Tick the
appropriate box.)
True False Not stated

16. Paragraph 2 explains that not as many students go home for lunch as in the past. It gives two reasons
for this. What are the two reasons? (2 marks)
a)
b)

17. Look at the word ‘panel’ in line 17. Now look at the dictionary entry for ‘panel’ below. Which
meaning corresponds to the meaning in line 17? Write the correct number in the box provided.
panel n 1 a piece of wood, glass, etc. forming part of a door or wall, e.g. One
of the glass panels in the door was cracked. 2 a strip of different material
inserted into clothes, e.g. The sleeves had lace panels. 3 a board into which
the instruments of a car, aeroplane, etc. are fixed, e.g. a control panel 4 a
team of people chosen to discuss or decide sth, e.g. a panel of experts
17.

18. In line 22, what does ‘it’ refer to?

19. In line 22, ‘eliminate’ means ....

A. reduce. B. increase.
C. put an end to. D. improve. 19.

20. In line 31, ‘there is plenty of room for improvement’ means ....
A. there is enough space to improve things.
B. things will improve in time.
C. things could be much better.
D. the room needs improving. 20.

21. Which word in paragraph 6 means ‘shocking, unbelievable’?

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 22. In line 34, what does ‘the problem’ refer to?

23. Liza Wong thinks schools are mainly responsible for the childhood obesity problem. (Tick the
appropriate box.)
True False Not stated

24. According to paragraphs 4, 5 and 7, which of the following is NOT mentioned as a benefit of Mr.
Ma’s plan?
A. Students paying less for their lunch
B. Improving students’ cooking skills.
C. Reducing rubbish and waste.
D. Improving students’ understanding of the quality and value of food.
E. Providing students with a healthy lunch.
F. Reducing parents’ concerns about their children’s diet. 24.

Phrases are missing from the last two paragraphs. From the seven phrases (A–G) below, choose the five
which best complete the blanks 25–29 in the text. Write the letters in the spaces provided. One has been
done for you as an example. (5 marks)

a) D

25.
26.

27.
28.
29.

A. set up by the school

B. should be used as a place to eat
C. cannot be ignored
D. students can eat
E. and eat a nice apple for lunch
F. are just outside the school gates
G. the Department says

30. In line 44, ‘venues’ means

31. What is the writer’s attitude towards the Education Department’s actions (paragraphs 8 and 9)? Give
reasons for your answer. (2 marks)

32. In this article, the writer’s intention is to ....

A. support a proposal to change something.
B. explain the reasons for something.
C. apologise for something.
D. complain about something. 32.

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 Text 3 Read the following account and then answer questions 33 – 51. (19 marks)

Zhang Xingguo – Cook, and Animal Rights Campaigner

Zhang Xingguo has always had a love for wildlife. But this has come at a price for the
32-year-old’s career as a professional cook — 12 sackings and 20 resignations in the past eight
years due to his refusal to prepare wild animals for the table.

Mr Zhang’s determination to protect wildlife started when he was just six years old. He
5 heard strange, baby-like cries and followed them to a nearby house where he saw a neighbour
cutting up a live hedgehog for dinner. The experience left an indelible mark on his young mind. “It
was so shocking that I have never forgotten it. And I swore to myself that I would never do that to
any animal,” he said.

Two years later, his desire to protect animals drove him to rescue an injured dove from
10 his classmates. The youngsters were planning to make a meal of the bird, but Mr Zhang grabbed it
from their hands. The dove then spent the next five years nesting in a tree in front of his house. A
scar near his left eye from a stone thrown by a classmate is a permanent reminder of the incident.
“I didn’t know I would have to suffer for being kind to wild animals,” he said.

The story did not end there. After graduating from high school in 1991, Mr Zhang went
15 to Fushun city in Liaoning to master the art of cooking. His professional life was uneventful until
five years later when restaurants in northeast China attempted to outdo their rivals in wildlife-based
cuisine. One day his boss forced him to present a table of dishes made from crane, pangolin and
hedgehog.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes. My boss ordered a whole load of wildlife from Guangdong and asked
20 me to cook the animals,” he said. “The two hedgehogs were trembling in their cage, while the crane
was shedding tears as if it knew what was going to happen to it. So I told the boss I couldn’t do it.”
Mr Zhang was fired and his boss refused to free the two hedgehogs.

Since then, he has worked in spells ranging from two days to three months, each time
being fired for not cooking wild animals. He makes his principles clear before he takes on a job, but
25 restaurant bosses try to persuade him to do otherwise.
“The late 1990s saw a huge increase in demand for wild food in Liaoning restaurants. They copied
the popular cuisines in Guangdong, where rich businesspeople used expensive dinners to show
off their wealth. Government officials were using state money to buy an exotic experience and
restaurant owners didn’t want to miss the chance,” Mr Zhang said. He seemed to be the only cook
30 going against the tide, and his beliefs even led to an attack by a restaurant boss in 1998.

Frustrated and tired of continually looking for work, he quit cooking. In 1998, together
with his new wife, Mr Zhang sold underwear in the street, making a profit of just 50 fen for each
pair sold.

Mr Zhang returned to the kitchen in 1999 when he moved to Dalian , which he believed
35 to be a more civilised city. It proved to be a good move and he was hired by a restaurant manager
who never asked him to cook wild animals.
“It was the best time of my life. And I started calling on other cooks to boycott wild animals.”
He made banners and convened meetings in city parks to encourage chefs to stop cooking wild
animals. The SARS outbreak in 2003 gave Mr Zhang the chance to intensify his campaign. He
40 went to Huludao , a Liaoning city famous for the variety of its birdlife, to persuade people to stop

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 eating wild animals for the sake of their health. He printed leaflets and gave speeches promoting
his idea of ‘purifying the kitchen, purifying life and purifying the soul’.

“Some people call me a fool. Some say I want to be famous. Some think I’m strange. So
45 far I’ve not had much encouragement, either from cooks or ordinary people. The government has
not voiced opposition to my campaign, nor has it given any support,” he said. But Mr Zhang will
never stop his nationwide ‘green cooking’ publicity campaigns, and he has started to receive sup-
port from non-governmental organisations.

33. According to paragraph 1, how has Mr Zhang’s love of wildlife affected his cooking career?

34. In line 6, ‘The experience’ refers to

35. In paragraph 2, which word means ‘permanent, irremovable’?

36. According to paragraph 3, Mr Zhang will never forget about the time he saved the dove
because

37. According to paragraph 4, when Mr Zhang moved to Fushun ....

A. he started cooking wildlife for the first time.
B. he quickly got into trouble with his boss.
C. nothing happened at work for several years.
D. everything was fine until he got a new boss. 37.

38. In line 20, when Mr Zhang describes the hedgehogs and the crane, he wants us to feel ....
A. angry.
B. happy.
C. amused.
D. sympathetic. 38.

39. According to paragraph 5, Mr Zhang kept losing his job because

40. In line 25, ‘otherwise’ means

41. Look at the word ‘tide’ in line 30. Now look at the dictionary entry for ‘tide’ below. Which meaning
corresponds to the meaning in line 30? Write the correct number in the box provided.

tide n 1 a regular rise and fall in the level of the sea, e.g. The beach was
covered at high tide. 2 a direction in which events, luck seem to be moving,
e.g There was a rising tide of discontent. 3 [U] (in compounds) a time or
season of the year, e.g. Christmastide. 4 IDM go/swim etc. with/against
the tide to agree with/ oppose the attitudes, opinions, etc. of most other
people
41.

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42. According to paragraph 6, Mr Zhang gave up cooking because

43. According to paragraph 7, the SARS outbreak Mr Zhang’s campaign.

A. strengthened
B. weakened
C. did not affect
D. publicised 43.

44. According to paragraph 8, people in China are now eating less wildlife than before.
True False Not stated

45. An alternative title for the article could be ....

A. Cook starts vegetarian movement in China.
B. Cook finds protecting wildlife comes at a price.
C. Wildlife dishes still popular in China.
D. Restaurant fires cook for not obeying orders. 45.

Below is a summary of Mr Zhang’s views. However, there are some missing words. Read the article and
then fill in each blank with ONE word only which best completes the sentence, keeping the meaning of the
original text. Note that the most suitable word may or may not appear in the article. You should also
make sure that your answers are grammatically correct. The first two have been done for you as examples.
(6 marks)

Mr Zhang realised that he loved wildlife from a very early (a) . a) age

When he was six he was (b) to see a man cruelly killing a b) shocked

hedgehog in order to eat it. A few years later he (46) a wild 46.

dove from his classmates (47) wanted to eat it. When 47.

Mr Zhang became a cook he always refused to cook wild animals.

As a result, he (48) his job many times. Now he works in a 48.

restaurant where he (49) not need to cook wildlife. He has 49.

started a (50) to persuade other cooks not to do it. So far, 50.

this campaign (51) not been very successful. 51.

END OF PAPER

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 PRACTICE PAPER 5B — WRITING

Complete both tasks. Time allowed: 11/2 hours

Task 1 (100 words)

Your school is going to start a ‘Healthy Cooking Club’ to help students to learn how to cook healthy and
delicious food. The Club will meet once a week after school. You have been asked to design a leaflet
introducing the club, explaining the benefits and encouraging students to join. Read the points below and
then complete the leaflet for the Club. Write in complete sentences, about 100 words in total.

membership: all students S1-S5

starting: After New Year
time: Wednesdays after school
place: HE room
benefits: z learn how to cook better – be able to help with cooking at home, or entertaining
friends
z learn about what makes food healthy or unhealthy
z learn about healthy diet
z other benefits

Come and join the NEW Healthy Cooking Club!!

About the Club

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 Benefits of the Club

JOIN NOW AND EAT YOUR WAY TO HEALTH!

Task 2

Write about 250 words on ONE of the following topics.

1. Write an article for your school magazine on the topic: ‘How lunchtimes could be improved’.

2. ‘My favourite place to eat’. Write about this topic – the place could be a restaurant, your home, a
friend or relative’s home. Describe the place, the food, and perhaps events that have occurred there.

END OF PAPER

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